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#2 UFC Heavyweight Division: Andrei Arlovski vs. Tanner Boser

Tanner Boser has improved dramatically in 2020.

It’s hard to believe it, but Arlovski’s second run in the UFC – following his return to the promotion in 2014 – has now lasted almost as long as his initial one from 2000 to 2008. And while he hasn’t gotten his hands on the UFC Heavyweight title like he did during that first run, he’s still had plenty of success.

Since 2014, The Pitbull is 8-9 in the UFC, and every time he’s been written off, he’s somehow managed to bounce back. Once considered a chinny fighter, it’s hard to make that accusation now given he’s only been KO’d twice in his last 11 fights. And he’s now more of an ultra-tough veteran gatekeeper who can still beat plenty of up-and-comers.

So the question here is, what is Boser’s ceiling? Is he plodding enough for Arlovski to dance around and out-work with his boxing skills? Or is he more cut from the same mold as Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Augusto Sakai, both of whom were able to defeat Arlovski in recent fights?

If you were judging The Bulldozer on his early UFC fights, you’d probably go with the former. Boser won a decision over Daniel Spitz in his UFC debut and was then comfortably out-worked by Ciryl Gane in his second appearance. In those fights, he looked like your classic sloppy Heavyweight – plodding, slow, but with a decent amount of power in his hands.

2020 has changed that, though. Boser came into his fight in June against Philipe Lins in much-improved shape and smashed the Brazilian in just under three minutes. And a month later, in even better shape, he did the same to Raphael Pessoa.

Most notable was the Canadian’s hand speed. He put together some incredible combinations in those wins, one of which left Lins unconscious – something Arlovski was unable to achieve when he faced off with the Brazilian in May.

Arlovski will definitely be a trickier test for Boser than Lins or Pessoa. He’s much quicker than both men, has far more experience, and is probably a superior boxer too. However, over the years, he’s developed a habit of relying a little too much on his big right hand and has been known to use a somewhat lazy – and risky – jab.

That should be a concern against Boser, who seems to be improving at a dramatic rate and already has extremely quick hands. It’d be very easy to see a situation arise where The Bulldozer slips an Arlovski jab and turns his lights out with a rapid-fire counter combo.

So can he do it? I’m going with yes. Boser is 29 years old – young for a Heavyweight – and while his overall record of 19-6-1 is nothing to brag about, his recent form in the UFC has been stunning.

Beating Arlovski doesn’t mean what it once did – obviously, it didn’t lead Sakai or Rozenstruik to the UFC title – but it’d still be a huge feather in the cap of a fighter like Boser. With that in mind, I’m taking The Bulldozer to win this one by KO.

The Pick: Boser via first-round KO